Corruption
by Zaerith Vrinn
Summary: These are the paths taken, the ones we followed...One by one each of us falling into Darkness... Frontier
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note: **Dedicated to **rika195, **this is some of the 'similar ideas' I was talking about, hope you like! Basically what this is about is the corruption of the 'dark hybrids' (With the exception of Loweemon, because we all know how he went bad) with each chapter, except the prologue, staring their fall into darkness in order of their later destruction.

**Warnings: **Darkness, some character angst and mentions of Mercury/Rana and Beetle/Kaze (Hey, I like those two together) romantic involvement in later chapters

**Disclaimer: **I **DO** own Digimon! Really! I made a cameo appearance in season four as a Veemon! Don't believe me? No? Good, 'cause, sadly, it ain't true…

Corruption

You know who we are. We are the evil hybrids, the fallen warriors who gave themselves to darkness. But our real story has not been told, none of you know why we chose to side with Cherubimon and his evil forces.

That is the thing. We did not actually _choose_ to be evil. We were all shocked when Lord Cherubimon proposed the idea of a war against the human types. It seemed to us that this course of action was illogical, even when he told us of the injustices he felt when two of the three celestial Digimon where _human_ type, while he was the only beast.

We told Cherubimon to calm down, that such an act would be rash. And with time Lord Cherubimon's anger settled and peace continued in the digital world.

That is until we were each faced with injustices of our own.

We gave up our purity, corruption decayed our forms (Some more than others) and we pledged to serve Cherubimon until we had all had our revenge...

You know who we are; you know the story that has been told by the Digidestined about us. Arbormon, Grumblemon, Mercurymon, and Ranamon. These are _our_ stories, and the paths we chose…

**Author's End note:** That's it for now (It's only a prologue people, the other chapters will be longer I promise), and the rest of the fic will now be entirely in third-person. If you want this fic to continue I demand reviews! At least five will get the new chapter, if not; the reviews I _do_ get will have to be pretty pathetic with the begging.

**VE: **Brahahahaha… I'm glad Zaerith's finally getting to work on this, she's been talking about since we started looking back on our old Digimon fandom… -sigh- those were the good old days, I miss being a kiddie.


	2. Grumblemon

**Author's note: **Here's the first actual chapter, hope y'all enjoy! Thanks for my _two_ reviews, I can live with that, I've gone on without more than one review, but I'm sure others will come eventually, Thanks for supporting this fic, **rika195** and **Blonde-Eko**

**Warnings: **Grumblemon goes kooky! Grumble/Kuma friendship (I'm trying to build relationships between the warriors that no one has thought of or putting already thought of relationships in different lights.) I am wordy, some people may call this a 'long' chapter, but this is the usual length for me .

**Disclaimer: **I wish, I _really _do, but alas fate chose a different path for me. Wahhh! I do however own the redesigns for the purified warriors.

Corruption

Grumblemon

Grumblemon was the first to fall…

He was a proud little creature. He wasn't the tallest in the group, nor the strongest, or even the smartest (Those three could all be put under Mercurymon actually, if the steel warrior didn't get too ahead of himself), but he was proud. Grumblemon also liked to fight…and cheat. However this did not stop anyone from liking him, his best friend among the other warriors was Kumamon.

The two of them were actually the youngest of the ten of them and got along remarkably well when Grumblemon's stubborn pride didn't get in the way. However Kumamon preferred to play rather than fight, but Grumblemon was at least good enough of a friend to play with the ice warrior before the frozen bear resorted to dirty tactics (Like crying).

As Grumblemon often thought in the days ahead; how did his once happy life turn into something so filled with evil?

It all started when Kumamon got sick.

"How you get sick?" Grumblemon asked "You can't catch cold, you are one!"

"I dun have a colb." Kumamon answered, "I just dun feel well."

"Sounds like cold!" Grumblemon retorted angrily "Why you have to get sick!? We were going to tournament!"

"I din't mean ta get sik." Kumamon reached for a cloth to blow his stuffed nose. "Sowwy about the tournament, I know how much you wanted to…To…Hat-choo!... To go…sowwy." He added after Grumblemon grabbed a different cloth to wipe bear boogers off his face.

"Fine! You stay, I go to tournament myself!" Grumblemon shouted angrily and turned away in a hurry.

Kumamon sighed. Grumblemon didn't act like it, but Kumamon knew the earth was worried about his friend. Kumamon was perhaps the only one who knew Grumblemon well enough to know when he was being generally mean or just stubborn. "da tournament bill calm 'im duwn…" Kumamon yawned drowsily and tried to sleep.

At the tournament Grumblemon muttered to himself about 'stupid Kumamon and getting sick on the day of the tournament' during all of his matches. The one-on-one fights he had to do because his partner wasn't there were too easy for him at first, but by the seventh round he'd had to switch to sneaky cheating because of the powerful foes he faced. However, in the end he had won (by somewhat honest means) first place and, forgetting all about being mad, rushed off to tell Kumamon about his victory.

However he had not yet returned when he had to stop. "What the…? Grumblemon whispered when he saw the sight before him. It was Agunimon and Lobomon, they appeared to be fishing, and seated between them was Kumamon. They had their backs turned so they did not see him as Grumblemon snuck closer to hear what they were saying.

"Thanks for inviting me guys, this is a lot of fun!" Kumamon was giggling as he pulled up his rod to reveal the big fish he had caught.

"Yeah, yeah…" Agunimon sighed pulling up his empty rod, "big fun, hey Kumamon how 'bout saving some fish for the rest of us to catch?"

Kumamon laughed and turned around when Lobomon tapped him on the shoulder. "So tell why it is that you're too sick to go to the fighting tournament with Grumblemon, but well enough to go fishing with us, fall in the water, and still be well enough to hook a few whoppers?"

"Y'mean _all_ the whoppers?" Agunimon laughed pointing at the tiny fish that Lobomon had just reeled in.

Lobomon snorted and threw the small fry back, then looked expectantly at Kumamon waiting for an answer.

"Well…" The ice Digimon said slowly, his smile had faded "I…I'm not really _that_ sick, I…just didn't want to go to the tournament…I go with him every year, but I don't like to. I just didn't want to hurt his feelings."

At this point Grumblemon turned away furiously; how could Kumamon lie to him like that!? And what was worse was that he assumed that Grumblemon wouldn't be understanding! Well, perhaps he'd have been a little tempered at first but eventually he would have gotten over it.

Grumblemon continued stomping angrily threw the woods. He heard voices and slowed down, then decided to check out who was talking. He headed towards the road and saw three of the other warriors headed down it. Beetlemon, Kazemon and Ranamon, were walking (and/or flying) down the path that would lead them to the stadium where the tournament was being held. Kazemon was speaking so loudly that Grumblemon would not have needed to come closer to hear what she was yelling.

"Grumblemon!" She was shouting "As soon as I find that little mole, I'm gonna throttle him!" Grumblemon growled. He despised being called a mole.

"Calm down, Sugar." Ranamon told the pink fairy.

"Ranamon I'm being as calm as possible in this position." The warrior of wind replied. "Kumamon was _sick_--"

"And what evidence do ya have that Grumblemon _kidnapped_ him to go to this stupid tournament?" Ranamon asked flatly.

Beetlemon spoke up sounding only a little less angry that Kazemon "Kumamon is not in bed, and Grumblemon is the only one who would have anything they wanted him to do today. Grumblemon is so selfish!"

"Did it ever occur to either of ya that maybe Kumamon went out for so fresh air? It _does_ get pretty stuffy when you're in bed sick." Ranamon inquired putting her hands on her hips.

At this Kazemon and Beetlemon both stopped and thought about it a little. By now however, Grumblemon had stormed off again, grateful that at least _Ranamon_ wasn't making false accusations of him.

"You're right…" Beetlemon sighed, "Maybe we are jumping to conclusions."

"But still it wouldn't hurt to see if Grumblemon _did_ take him to the tournament." Kazemon added.

"I know Grumblemon better than both y'all," Ranamon told them "if he did take Kumamon to the tournament it was probably just to watch, and if it wasn't ya can go ahead and throttle him."

The three of them continued on their way laughing.

Grumblemon pushed on through the thicket; how could Kazemon and Beetlemon be so mean!? Kumamon was his _friend _he'd never be as callous as to drag him to a tournament when he was sick! Grumblemon then remembered also that Kumamon _wasn't_ sick and kicked the stones in his path.

He entered a clearing in the trees and was just barely able to duck behind the trees again to avoid being seen by the last three warriors of darkness, wood, and steel as they walked along the path to the road.

"Mercurymon, wait, do you _really_ think it's a good idea to tell Grumblemon?" Loweemon was asking.

Mercurymon and Arbormon stopped and turned to the dark lion warrior and gave him cold looks. "Grumblemon is the legendary warrior of Earth," Mercurymon replied with irritation in his voice, "he is our _comrade_, doth he not deserve to know that he hath been deceived?"

Grumblemon's ears perked up. Was Mercurymon saying that he was on his way to tell him that Kumamon had lied to him? Mercurymon? The stuck up warrior of steel, standing up for him? Grumblemon couldn't believe his ears.

"But--" Loweemon started.

"Friends who stick together are eternal friends, right." Arbormon cut him off. The warrior of wood ducked his head to avoid getting his antlers caught in the low branches.

Arbormon looked a lot like how he would after becoming one of the 'dark warriors' of the future, perhaps because he was one of the least corrupted. His armor was mostly the same, but looking more like a man than a Karakuri puppet, and a moss covered cape completed his outfit. Vines grew out the back of his helmet like hair, and two holes at the top that allowed his antlers to break through. Arbormon's brown helmet still covered most of his face, the legendary symbol for wood was decorated on the top of it, and only his mouth and the end of his nose actually showed, but there were two holes to reveal his beautiful golden eyes.

Loweemon nodded, "Yes, but if we told Grumblemon, would he actually believe us?" He asked. The other two paused and gazed back at him questioningly. "I mean, none of us are particularly close friends of his, and Kumamon is his _best_ friend."

Mercurymon leaned back against a tree and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Regardless of whether or not Grumblemon believe us, 'tis his right as a legendary warrior, and as our friend, to know the truth." He returned.

Like Arbormon, Mercurymon's features were a lot like how he was to look after becoming a decadence of his former self. Mercurymon's skin was pale, he had a man's face, with his eyes covered with a yellow, mirrored visor, the visor was quite annoying sometimes, but he was blind without it (same with Kazemon and her visor). Black hair, that seemed dark green in some lights, fell in front of it and popped back out the other side of his round helmet in a high ponytail. A sword was sheathed at his side; its hilt was decorated with crystals that reflected their surroundings, almost like the mirrors Mercurymon donned on his armor. His armor stayed the same but his limbs were less stick-like and more human. The emblem of steel was etched into the top of his boots. As the tallest and smartest one in the group it really didn't help anyone of the other male's self esteems that he was also very handsome and a wiz with the ladies.

Loweemon nodded again, "But as Grumblemon's best friend it should be Kumamon telling him."

"So yoose saying that we go an' find Kumamon and make him tell Grumblemon that he wasn't sick?" Arbormon asked scratching his antlers against a tree trunk trying to remove some of the itchy, molting velvet that covered them.

"That's what I'm saying." Loweemon answered, "Truth works best between friends, especially when told between best friends."

Arbormon nodded, "Alright."

Mercurymon remained were he was for a few moments, but at last gave a defeated sigh. "Alright, but thou must not forget to mention that we _were_ to tell Grumblemon."

Arbormon nodded again, "Let's go back to the hang out," he said turning around, "I don't know about the rest of yoose, but _I'm _starving!"

"Doth thou think of nothing but food!?" Mercurymon responded, disgusted that the other warrior could be thinking about eating when there was injustice hanging about, but a particularly loud growl from his own stomach silenced him.

Loweemon laughed, "I hear it Ranamon's turn to cook, we'll get Kumamon and have him tell Grumblemon over a special lunch." He teased looking directly at Mercurymon as he said it.

Because his skin was so pale, when Mercurymon's face brightened it was obvious. Arbormon laughed, "Still haven't gotten the nerve to ask her out yet, right?"

"I...well…er…Oh, shut it!" the steel warrior growled and walked briskly towards the castle or 'hang out' as Arbormon had called it earlier.

"Hey, wait up!" Loweemon called after him and ran to catch up with the faster warrior.

"You know what they say, right?" Arbormon shouted running too, "Trust is best built over a meal, right!"

Grumblemon stayed were he was, though the thought of food was tempting (Especially Ranamon's renowned cuisine), he could not believe how easily swayed his friends had been into going just leaving the truth untold to him, even though Grumblemon already knew. At least the thought had been there, Mercurymon was surprise, so Grumblemon supposed he _shouldn't_ be mad at them, but he didn't want to see Kumamon. So he ran away.

Grumblemon didn't know how long he'd been running, but he came to a stop at his favorite hide out, a small cave that the others did not know existed, it was too well hidden for them to find. He crawled in and on his hands and knees crept farther in where the cave opened up and he sat up. The cave was still small here; he could put out his arms and feel all the walls without moving.

The warrior of earth was a proud guy, he hated crying, and more so being caught crying. Grumblemon held the tears as best he could, but eventually a few bubbled out over his eyelashes and down his cheek. Silently they fell and even then it was only a matter of time before sobs escaped his throat.

He didn't know, but the other warriors who were the ones to come to his defense were to fall into darkness after him. Arbormon would be next, Ranamon after him, then even the wise Mercurymon would fall, lastly leaving Loweemon to a different kind of corruption. As tears fell from his face purity also fell from him, and the Grumblemon that had once been Kumamon's best friend began to decay and die to be replaced by an evil Digimon who would be ready to kill him the next time they met.

"Dry up!" Grumblemon snapped angrily at himself, he supposed the sudden growl in his voice was the product of his anger, pain, and the echoes bouncing off the walls of the cave.

However, he knew something was wrong when he moved his hand to brush some of his hair out of his face. As he lowered his hand, hair came down with it. Surprised, Grumblemon grabbed at his hair again and pulled lose another hand full. Panicked, he dug his way out of the cave and ran towards the nearby pond. Was it just his imagination, or did the trees get taller? Or had he gotten shorter?

Upon seeing his reflection in the pond with the light above fading Grumblemon almost balked. How long had he been in that cave? How long had he been crying?

His hair which had once been yellow-blond slightly longer and thicker on the right side of his face, had fallen out…and what had not, had turned a sick blond, more brown than yellow, the color of mud. His arms had become bulkier (Not as attractive as they had once been) and he had indeed gotten shorter, and rounder he noted with slight embarrassment. But the detail that upset him the most was in the center of his face. His nose; which had swelled to over twice its normal thickness and grown out almost a foot.

Grumblemon grabbed his nose and for a moment seemed to be trying to push it back to where it was supposed to be, however seconds later his body began to glow and then was surrounded by the unmistakable data streams of fractal code.

"Grumblemon; slide evolution!" He cried, obviously the growl from earlier had nothing to do with echoes.

The light faded away and where Grumblemon had once stood there was a different Digimon. "Gigasmon." The beast-warrior of earth introduced himself, and glanced into the water.

What started as a sigh of relief turned into a horrified gasp as Gigasmon gazed at his reflection. At first his form was the same but as he watched light and dark brown fur fell from his body in clumps and disappeared before even hitting the ground. His mussel shrank down to an almost human face with the exception of a ridiculously large nose like the one in his corrupted human form. Paws with shovel claw gloves turned into bare hands, and the volcano on his back shrank into naked skin. The only thing left the same were the shovel gloves and the color around his neck from which the character representing earth dangled like a tag.

It came to the warrior slowly what had happened. He was corrupted. Evil. "No," he whispered "no, no, no, no, no." he tore of the gloves and his collar and as they hit the ground they burst into tiny particles of data, disappearing into eternity. Good, such things should not belong to the Digimon. He was a legendary warrior no longer.

"No…" He moaned again. He tried concentrating on good things, trying to purify himself… but all he could think about was how Kumamon had lied to him, how Lobomon and Agunimon had taken his friend on a fishing trip instead of turning him in, how Kazemon and Beetlemon had been so quick to blame him for Kumamon's disappearance, and how the final four warriors where the only ones to stand up for him (Loweemon had stood up for the fact that it would be better that Kumamon turned himself in). One word came to his mind. Only one word.

_Revenge_.

**Author's end note:** Mwaaah… I feel bad for my poor little Grumblemon (Hey I redesigned him he's totally mine now, and so are the others), I have never seen any fanfiction where he and Kumamon were friends and I actually think they'd be cute buddies, I hope this inspires some friendship fics for these two. Also on the redesigns, Arbormon's design is inspired half by his original design and Hern the Hunter in Celtic legend. Mercurymon is inspired by his original design and the fact that I like visors and hair (Especially black because blond's been used too much in Frontier). Grumblemon remained mostly the same because his nose was the only thing that truly bugged me, then I thought, hey why don't I make him a bit taller? How 'bout some more hair? Those arms are icky, let's change them! I have a picture of him drawn, but unfortunately I do not have a scanner, but someday you might see him on my Deviantart page. Gigasmon on the other hand, scared me so I just _had_ to change him to something more animal-like, I hope y'all can see what I have in mind for him. Please review and tell what you think, hopefully you'll be looking forward to Arbor's corruption. Unfortunately, I'm also going away for the summer so I may or may not be able to update before September, **rika195** if I don't review for your "Ranamon" story it's not because I don't love it anymore, I hope to read more when I come back from vacation.

**V.E.: **Don't worry I'll make sure she works on this during the summer. Leave nice reviews or she's not allowed to update when she gets the chance.


	3. Arbormon

**Author's note:** I'm having a lot of fun with this, I hope y'all are too. Again I'm trying to make new relationships between the 'good' warriors and the 'evil' warriors. Lobomon and Loweemon are brothers in this fic like Kouji and Kouichi 'cause I love brothers. Lolz I write the best disclaimers EVER!

**Warnings: **Ehhh… not much to warn about, Arbormon doesn't quite go 'kooky', Arbor/Beetle friendship, hints at Beetle/Kaze romance…and a tiny bit of swearing…I think that's about it.

**Disclaimer:** -Sing song- A B C D E F G! Digimon are chasing me! One is red and one is blue! The yellow one just ate my shoe! -end singing- Guilmon, Veemon and Agumon claim I don't own them…and Agumon owes me new shoes. (By the way, official books and stuff say Agumon is orange, but he looks yellow to me, and that's what I'm sticking to _**:**__D_)

Corruption

Arbormon

Of the legendary warriors, all ten of them, Arbormon was the most in tune with the element he represented, followed closely by Ranamon and her connection to water. Arbormon loved to roam the woods and breathe in the sweet air of the forest. He was laid back, and enjoyed the little moments in life where he could just lie on the branches of his favorite tree and take a little nap. Often such relaxing habits labeled him as lazy, though nobody really pointed it out.

Arbormon loved _life_. To him there was nothing more important that living without the constant need to fight. That was why he became a legendary warrior; to end the fighting, and when the ancient warriors from which their spirits were born defeated Lucemon he'd hoped that had finally ended it. However, not everyone agreed with his view on life, there was still fighting, but it was playful fighting, and tournaments to test one's strength. Arbormon could live with that.

But now something was wrong. Grumblemon, the warrior of Earth had disappeared, and Lord Cherubimon was again speaking of declaring war on human type Digimon. Arbormon, Loweemon, Mercurymon, and Ranamon spent a great deal of time trying to talk him out of it. After calming Cherubimon down they set to the business of finding Grumblemon, apparently he'd won the fighting tournament he'd gone to the day Kumamon was (Not really) sick, and that was the last any Digimon had seen of him.

Something was fishy alright, and it wasn't the chowder Ranamon had made that day. Arbormon licked his lips at the delicious memory, and then forced himself to concentrate on the meeting being held. The nine remaining warriors had gathered at the castle discussing what may have become of Grumblemon.

Currently Agunimon was explaining for the fourth time why they were there, while at the same time in a heated argument with Mercurymon about what should be done. Lobomon was half in agreement with Agunimon and half in his own idea, while Loweemon tried to keep his brother out of the fight. Kazemon and Ranamon stood at Mercurymon and Agunimon's sides trying to get the boys to settle down; Beetlemon was voicing his own options only succeeding making the argument louder. Kumamon sat of to the side, swinging his legs back and forth over the edge of his chair and twiddling his thumbs.

Arbormon studied the frozen bear. Kumamon had his eyes lowered to the floor and guilt shown in his eyes. Arbormon's analyses left him wonder if Kumamon was uneasy about having lied to Grumblemon about being sick, or if the ice warrior somehow felt responsible for his friend's disappearance. By now everyone knew that Kumamon had lied

Focusing back on the argument, Arbormon found that Kazemon had gotten Agunimon to sit back down and now only Mercurymon and Ranamon remained standing. Ranamon tugged the steel Digimon's arm and insisted that he loosen up, while Mercurymon stood hunched over with one hand slammed on the table, the other balled into a fist in the air at his side, and a frown on his face.

"And thou wishes to just do nothing!?" Mercurymon growled at the fiery leader.

"That's not what I'm saying," Agunimon argued starting to rise again, but Kazemon pushed him back down "I'm saying we should investigate the situation before we do anything rash, if we aren't careful someone else might disappear!"

"Bah!" Mercurymon barked standing to his full height.

"Sugar, sit down!" Ranamon cried, clinging to Mercurymon's arm, when the Warrior straightened the water Digimon's feet had been lifted of the ground and were now flailing frantically at the sudden loss of solid substance.

Mercurymon glanced at her, surprised, as if noticing she was there for the first time. Brightening, he set her down and took his seat. "Tis not doing anyone any good…" Mercurymon sighed.

"Right," Agunimon said, "sorry."

Arbormon noted that Agunimon's apology was muttered to the group not directly to Mercurymon as it should have been, and from the frown the mirrored man wore, he had noticed too.

Loweemon cleared he throat to get everyone's attention, "Mercurymon is right about finding Grumblemon." He said.

"But Agunimon brought up a good point about the danger of someone else vanishing." Lobomon countered.

Kazemon spoke up, "But what if he was kidnapped?"

"Why would someone kidnap a legendary warrior, Sugar?" Ranamon voiced, "I mean it's not like he's some kinda prize, or else someone woulda sent us a ransom note."

"Good point," Beetlemon replied, "but what if it was a participant from the tournament, they could have been looking for revenge."

"Even in a fight with no rules Grumblemon tis not one so easily defeated, he wouldst fight dirty in order to win." Mercurymon answered back.

"We're getting no where fast." Agunimon said.

Arbormon had a thought and opened his mouth to speak. "What if Grumblemon found outabout Kumamon lying to him, huh? Perhaps he just got angry and went to cool off, right?"

Kumamon sunk in his chair and whimpered cheerlessly.

"Arbormon you're making Kumamon feel bad." Kazemon shot defensively. The pink fairy Digimon was always treated the frozen warrior as a little brother and was quick to protect him from the harshness of others.

"But he _does_ have a point, Sugar." Ranamon stated, turning to Agunimon she added "If that's the case then we could jus' wait for him ta mosey his way back on his own."

"But if it isn't Grumblemon could be in danger." Beetlemon replied.

Arbormon stood up and headed towards the door.

"Hey!" Agunimon called after him "Where are you going?"

"Nothing's happening here, so I'm just going to go out and look for 'im" Arbormon answered.

"Wait," The fire warrior called again, "what about being cautious?"

Arbormon didn't answer, three others answered for him.

"Be cautious if that is what thou wishes, and continue with this futile debate," Mercurymon retorted standing up, "but _thy_ will go with Arbormon and at any rate _try _to make progress."

"I'm with the boys," Ranamon answered, bowing her head a little to the others, "at least _looking _is better than _talking_."

Loweemon stood up as well, "Forgive me," He said simply, "but they do have a point, I say we split up and look for him."

"Ah, but... wait, I... Aww alright we'll go look…" Agunimon finally agreed. The warriors all rose and took off in separate directions.

Arbormon searched the forest; Grumblemon was not the only worry bothering him. The trees spoke in frightened whispers, and the more wild woodland Digimon had vanished…There was something _wrong _out there. And it had all started about the same time Grumblemon disappeared, Arbormon wanted to investigate, perhaps the two were linked.

Despite his sloth-like traits, he was fiercely loyal to anyone he declared a friend. He put a hand on the trunk of a tree, "Have you seen Grumblemon?" he asked the sentinel plant.

Wind moved slowly through the branches, a sound barely audible to anyone other that Arbormon echoed in its wake. Arbormon nodded as he listened. "He passed this way…towards the pond…Yes, thank you, my friend." He replied and gave the tree a pat as he left to find the pool the tree had spoken of.

His speed increased a bit as he neared the pond and broke into a jog. He panted and leaned against another tree, placing a hand on it he asked it the same question. Wind began to shift through its branches as it started to answer, but the tree suddenly stopped short.

"What is it?" Arbormon asked, "What's wrong?"

Then he felt it. A cold chill ran up his spine and down again. Something was coming, something evil.

Vines sprouted from his right wrist and between the trailing plants light sparkled and a sword appeared. It was a wooden sword, but a big one almost as thick as he was. The wooden blade began to glow; the aura was the sword's actual strength.

"Don't be afraid," He whispered to the groove of trees. "I'll protect--"

His sentence was cut short when the ground opened up beneath him. Jumping back Arbormon barely escaped falling into what could have easily been a bottomless pit. And out of the newly forged hole, came a Digimon.

The stranger turned on him, Arbormon almost balked; though he was sure he'd never met this Digimon, there was something…Familiar about him.

Especially his eyes.

The Digimon lunged at him; Arbormon drew up his sword and parried the attack. The new arrival fell back into a tree; the same one Arbormon had just been talking to. There was a crack as the Digimon landed, and Arbormon knew from the sound that it hadn't been the Digimon's spine. As the stranger got up the tree fell behind him. Arbormon felt his insides boil at the loss of the tree, and with speed born of anger he charged.

The battle was tough and it was quiet a while before Arbormon delivered a finishing blow. The Digimon sat twitching where he had fallen. "Blockade Seed!" he shouted, pulling a black object from a pouch on his side. Vines sprouted fourth further weakening the stranger while at the same time binding him. "Who are you?" The warrior of wood demanded.

The outsider looked up at him, their eyes met, Arbormon swore under his breath. Those eyes…they looked like…

"Don't you recognize me?" The Digimon taunted. Fractal code appeared around him, causing his bindings to dissolve around him. Arbormon gasped in surprise. There was more than just data there…two spirits also hid inside the code. Arbormon stepped forward to seem them better.

One of them, the beast spirit which he had just fought, shot out of the stream and into the sky, where it vanished. Arbormon followed it with his gaze. It headed towards the mountains.

"Damn you! My beast spirit!" Arbormon turned back to the strange Digimon, too late; the Digimon was burrowing away, where Arbormon could not follow. However he was able to catch a glimpse of the Digimon's backside.

Arbormon stood there in shock for several moments. His sword vanished into light and vines. "Gr-Grumblemon…?" He dared not breathe. Was that _Grumblemon _who just attacked him?

Light enfolded him and streams of data protected him as he slide Digivolved. Petaldramon stalked through the woods, claws made of petrified wood left small holes where they trodden, and from those holes, sprouts appeared. Arbormon had slide Digivolved because he needed to think, his best place to think was in his favorite tree, a few miles from where he was, and Petaldramon was faster.

The journey, which could have lasted an hour or more in his human form, was over in only a matter of minutes. Upon arriving at the tree he returned to Arbormon and climbed up to the largest branch. The bark was smooth From Arbormon's routine naps and other quiet thinking times. Arbormon lay back against the trunk, this tree was tallest in the forest, and from his spot in the branches he could see the whole stretch of it.

_Was that Grumblemon? _He thought. _If it was, then I was attacked by Gigasmon…_ He pictured the friendly Earth Digimon and compared it to the ugly mutant gnome-like creature that attacked him. Yes…they did look somewhat alike, not at a first few glances or even a hundred glances, but if you really thought about it there was a similarity between them.

_But if that was Grumblemon and Gigasmon…Then what happened to them? How did they become like that?_ Sometimes when a Digimon went bad their forms would change, but that required a strong corruption, not anything that Arbormon could believe would ensnare the proud Grumblemon so easily. The only darkness other than Loweemon was Kumamon's lie about being sick, but that was not enough to cause corruption. Something else had to have been involved…but what? It didn't make any sense.

Without meaning to, Arbormon fell asleep, an easy thing to do up in these branches, especially with weather so nice. The wood warrior dreamed of days of ancients. Ancient cities, ancient battles, ancient warriors, ancient evils…Boy there where a lot of ancients, his sub-conscious mind joked.

He was AncientTroiamon in those days; fighting along side his fellow warriors, including his long-time friend AncientBeetlemon a friendship still strong today. AncientGreymon and AncientGarurumon were leading the others in a battle against Lucemon. AncientIrismon and AncientMermaimon followed after them striking the corrupted angel with wind and water. AncientMegatheriumon unleashed a Freezing Blizzard attack from the left, with AncientVolcamon covering him while AncientSphinxmon and AncientWisemon remained in the back waiting for their que to attack. AncientSphinxmon's eyes already glowed, waiting to use his Necro Eclipse attack, while AncientWisemon appeared to be in some sort of trace, already having cast his Elder Sign technique and was waiting to strike.

That left him and AncientBeetlemon on the right.

_"You ready?"_ His friend asked.

_"I'm just waiting for you my friend."_

A cry erupted, the warriors turned and looked. Arbormon's dream had changed as dreams often do. The three Celestial Digimon who had taken over the rule of the Digital world after the defeat of Lucemon, stood before them. Cherubimon was the one who had cried out, and he now was quivering, as if in pain. The other two glanced worriedly at each other and though no sounds came from either mouth, Arbormon knew they were speaking soothing words to their friend.

However words, audible or not, weren't enough. Cherubimon's pink fur darkened to purple and his eyes turned yellow, the beast-type celestial Digimon roared with fury and swatted the two human-types away from him. Arbormon fancied he saw something behind Cherubimon and as he continued to dream realized that Cherubimon was being controlled. Then he noticed something else. Cherubimon was holding something. A Digimon.

Grumblemon.

They were both marionettes being pulled on a string by the same puppet master.

_But who?_

Arbormon floated towards Cherubimon, intending to see what was attached to the other side of the string. There was something glowing brightly, he couldn't see what it was, but there was something familiar about its presence. He drew closer, and as he did, his ears caught the sound of a voice.

_"Arbormon…Arbormon…do not fret over your little friend any longer...Not much longer now…soon you too will belong to me."_

_"HEY!" _Arbormon shouted as the dream world around him faded into nothingness, a telltale sign that he was waking up. _"Who are you!?"_

_"Arbormon…Arbormon…_Open your eyes you lazy excuse for a warrior!"

The dream finally cast into oblivion Arbormon had no choice but to follow the new voice back into the waking world.

Kazemon floated in front of him; though her eyes were hidden by her visor it was easy to tell that she was angry. Arbormon blinked a couple of time confused…already his dream seemed a far off memory and he did not recall much of it, only that Grumblemon and Cherubimon were somehow involved in it.

"Mmm…What's up?" He yawned.

"You sleeping on the job, that's what," sounded another voice beneath them. Beetlemon's head poked up between the leaves of the branches next to them.

"Wha?" Arbormon asked, another yawn escaped his lips and he stretched his arms trying to wake up.

"We're _supposed _to be looking for Grumblemon." Kazemon snapped. The pink fairy Digimon cared deeply about the others but was also very fixated about work as well, and was quick to anger when someone wasn't doing their part.

"Kazemon," Beetlemon said, "calm down."

"I AM calm." She answered.

Arbormon couldn't resist a snicker. Kazemon and Beetlemon sometimes argued like they had been married for years. The warrior of wood knew at least Beetlemon had been harboring a crush on the girl since the days they were AncientBeetlemon and AncientIrismon. Kazemon had more recently expressed feelings for him.

Arbormon supposed she had once crushed on Agunimon, Lobomon, or Loweemon, those three were the main focus of a lot of girls; however they weren't nearly as mature or ready for a relationship as Beetlemon, Mercurymon or even Arbormon. Arbormon also supposed that Kazemon might have had feelings for Mercurymon at one point, but the warrior of steel had eyes for Ranamon, and unbeknownst to him the watery diva shared his feelings (Or at least the two of them hadn't started _dating_, they could have confessed by now.), Kazemon might have respected their feelings landing her between Arbormon, Beetlemon or someone new.

Arbormon had no desire to get romantically involved with anyone, and after a while helped Beetlemon come out with his feelings to Kazemon and helped the girl figure out her own feelings for the thunder bug.

Back in the present Kazemon turned sharply onto him "You think that's _funny_!? Grumblemon could be in real danger right now!"

"Kazemon…" Beetlemon begged "Please don't shout."

At the mention of Grumblemon and danger Arbormon suddenly remembered what had lead him to his tree to think in the first place. He tired to tell Kazemon and Beetlemon what had happened, but Kazemon kept interrupting and arguing, while Beetlemon gave up trying to get her to listen.

In the end Arbormon did not get to tell his story. Kazemon flew off in a stormy out burst. Beetlemon turned to Arbormon.

"Hey…" the warrior of wood started.

"Sorry," Beetlemon cut off, "I have to go." With that, the bug leapt out of the tree and landed on the ground almost gracefully. The bug lost his balance and fell flat on his back. After standing up once more he went after Kazemon, begging for her to slow down. Leaving Arbormon in silent shock.

This wasn't the first time since Beetlemon had started dating Kazemon that he'd left his friend behind for the girl. But each time Arbormon felt more and more abandoned. What was that he had thought earlier? That the friendship between them was still going strong. Funny, that almost seemed like an insult now.

Arbormon leapt out of his tree, scoring a perfect landing whereas Beetlemon had failed miserably at that. Arbormon stood off, hoping to run into someone who would listen to his tale about Grumblemon, but the more he walked the more he thought about how Beetlemon was paying less and less attention to him. Kazemon perhaps had a right to be angry at him for his sloth-like nature, because her nature demanded that they had to find their lost friend if it meant not eating or sleeping, but Beetlemon… Arbormon really did not know if they were even friends anymore, they hardly talked, and usually Beetlemon droned on and on about his girlfriend.

Arbormon stopped and rammed his antlers angrily against a tree. He did this when he was angry, which didn't happen often and usually it only took two or three rams to calm him down. Not this time. Each time his antlers hit the tree another memory of Beetlemon leaving him in favor of Kazemon drilled into his head. For what seemed the hundredth time Arbormon slammed his head against the tree.

_Crack!_

That didn't sound good…

Looking up Arbormon saw that one of his antlers had broken off. Such a thing had never happened before and Arbormon stared at the broken branch like horn for a moment. His antlers were strong; he'd rammed them into Mercurymon when the warrior had gotten too mouthy many times, and never once had they so much as bent.

_Crack…thud…_

There went the other one…

Arbormon picked up one of his antlers, and for a moment tried to put it back on his head in a sudden panic. He dropped it and began to run, his cape fluttered behind him as air rushed past it. Then it was gone. Arbormon stopped and turned around trying to catch his cape, but the wind carried it off into the woods, where once it landed, it would take years to find again, because of its mossy camouflage, so Arbormon left it and kept running.

He came to a stop breathlessly at the same pool that Grumblemon had found himself corrupted at. Pausing he decided to stop for a drink, cupping his hands he took a handful of water for a sip with out looking at his reflection, however he knew something was wrong when he couldn't find his mouth where it usually was. Glancing down he found a more droid-like face staring back at him. He stood up; his reflection taunted him with a rounder body that almost looked like a barrel.

"Arbormon, Slide-evolution!" He cried as streams of data enfolded him in a warm embrace, his body shifted and twisted into beast form. "Petaldramon."

Glancing at his reflection again he found that his beast form had mostly stayed the same, with the exception that his claws were now made of poison ivy instead of woods, and his petal mane was made of poison ivy as well, whereas they were once just ordinary petals.

"Wh-what's happening to me…?" He whispered quietly.

"Same thing happen to me."

Petaldramon turned swiftly around, "Grumblemon!?"

The Digimon nodded, Petaldramon started to ask where he had been and what was happening but before he could Grumblemon beckoned him over, "Cherubimon want to see you." he explained.

"Wha?" Petaldramon followed him anyway, still wanting to know the details. They walked in silence for several miles to an open area where there was a rip in the air…a portal?

"This way." Grumblemon instructed climbing through.

Petaldramon started to follow, but with a second though slide-evolved back into the new Arbormon before climbing though. He knew where they were, the Rose Morning Star, Cherubimon's castle was only a little ways off.

"What's going on?" he asked jotting up to the corrupted warrior of Earth.

However his reply did not come from Grumblemon. Cherubimon answered.

"Join with us Arbormon, and we shall all have out revenge together." The fallen angel told him.

For a moment a part of Arbormon's earlier dream flashed in his mind. Cherubimon and Grumblemon, being pulled on a string by an unknown master.

And now him too.

**Author's end note: **Whee, Arbormon was surprisingly fun to right! I may have to right a separate fic just for him later. So two down two to go, are you all enjoying this, I now I am!

**V.E: **Yay for Arbormon! Leave nice reviews or die.-wink- just kidd'n you won't die, but please no flames.


	4. Ranamon

**Author's note: **Thanks for all your reviews; I know at least _one_ of you was happily looking forward to this chapter. Yep it's Ranamon's turn to go down. Whoops! Did that sound like a threat? Sorry, it wasn't meant to be, Ranamon is one of my favorites, and I happen to like her a lot more than Kazemon, maybe it's because my favorite color is blue while pink lands farther down the list than in most girls'… hmm, some might think this is strange but I always hated Zoë/Izumi, but she just annoyed me for some reason… there were just so many female Digidestined that were cooler than her, I'm sorry. Also, my redesign for Calmaramon, like the others, is not too different form the original (hey, you cover her chest a little better, pretty up her hair, give her a more gentle face, replace her lower body to look like a mermaid in stead of a mutant-squid-hermit-crab thing and she doesn't look half bad, it fact _I'd_ probably go lesbian for her), and the new Sakkakumon (A.K.A changing his name back to Sephirotmon) is staying secret until then next chapter, though he's mentioned in this one. I'm making it so that the more corrupted a warrior is the uglier they are after corruption. As it stands Grumblemon is the most corrupted so far.

**Secondary note: **I got a couple reviews for the last chapter that I kinda want to do a little explanation for. First, I'm not saying who left the reviews, that is for their privacy and I don't want to point fingers, you are more than capable of checking review to see who said what. Now, one reviewer said they loved the fic, but some things seemed 'a little simple', that's kinda what I'm aiming for and perhaps I could have explained it better in the first chapter but here's the reason: They are NO LONGER the pure legendary warriors they were when they defeated Lucemon the first time, they are animated spirits left behind, drawing power off of the Celestial who they serve under. Since Cherubimon is being corrupted, the five 'dark hybrids' are already corrupted a little, they just need a little push to drive them over the edge. The 'dark hybrids' could just as easily been Agunimon and the gang, is sort of what I'm getting at. Next, there was a review that said 'its amazing what can come from one little lie'. Not that there's anything wrong with that statement, I just want to bring up the point that this isn't just about one lie. It's about the corruption of Cherubimon's warriors, and how the others, while focusing on one problem (Grumblemon vanishing, but there are still only a few that know about Kumamon's lie), they do not pay attention to what they do and how that creates more problems, like how Ophanimon and Seraphimon do not know how to save Cherubimon. So in a away all ten og them are actually corrupted a little. Okay, thank you, sorry to take up so much time you may continue with the fic.

**Warning: **Rana/Kaze friendship and Mercury/Rana romance, swearing

**Disclaimer: **Maybe I can get away with, I'm cute, everyone says I'm cute, and if I ask nicely I might get the rights to Digimon one day…-insert hopeful sparkle in the eyes- …One day…

Corruption

Ranamon

Water splashed, and the sound of a deep breath accompanied it as a Digimon resurfaced form the warm pool. Her name was Siramon and she was the beast warrior of water. She pulled her silky lavender hair out of her face; the long strands were dripping with water, but stayed perfectly straight as she pulled it back and dived back into the water. Blue and purple scales from her fish-like tail glimmered in the light and vanished into the depths. She swam with ease as fins sprouting from her back glided through the water making them appear almost like wings.

Siramon loved her pool; she was very in tune with her element of water and the temperature was just right for anyone who wanted to relax, which she desperately needed right now. She broke the surface again and swam to the edge of her pool and heaved a depressed sigh. Grumblemon was still missing, and now Arbormon had disappeared too.

She wasn't Kazemon. Kazemon always got upset when her friends were hurt, sometimes she even went a little overboard with her concern, like when she yelled at Arbormon for falling asleep when they were looking or Grumblemon, Kazemon now blamed herself for his disappearance. Siramon didn't think that worrying too much would make their friends come back, at first, but as time stretched on without hearing from either of them, fear started to plague her.

Especially when the nightmares started.

It was the same reoccurring dream, over and over again. One that she remembered only the slightest bit when she woke up. Knowing only that it had terrified her. Siramon leaned back against the edge of the pool trying to recall the full details of the nightmares, trying to make sense of them.

She would, in her human form, be walking down a dark path in the woods, Mercurymon would be walking next to her, holding her hand, she would squeeze it tightly and her heart would pound with fear. Grumblemon and Arbormon were walking ahead of them and Loweemon behind them somewhere.

Suddenly Grumblemon and Arbormon would break into a run. Ranamon tried to go after them, but Mercurymon held her back. He would draw his sword, and then the air would be filled with an eerie noise, almost like a scream. Loweemon appeared at their side, Mercurymon nodded to him and they both approached the black void which seemed to have swallowed up the warriors of Earth and Wood.

Ranamon moved forward as well, suddenly a noise behind her would make them all turn. It was Cherubimon, but he was obviously not himself, he moved like he was a puppet being pulled by an amateur, but within a few moments who ever it was pulling the string got better at it and Cherubimon spoke with a voice not his own.

_"Come…join us…the end is near…"_ Ranamon knew that voice, like something from a far off memory, perhaps from times when she was AncientMermaimon, it filled her with fear.

She turned to Mercurymon and Loweemon, the three of them would stand a better chance against this mysterious puppet master that them each on their own, but Loweemon had disappeared, and Mercurymon was hunched over like he was in pain.

In the nightmare she would rush over to him calling his name, but when she reached his side, his body exploded into a blinding light. At first she always thought he was slide-evolving, but when the streams of fractal data vanished, Sephirotmon was not there, but a giant ten-chambered mutant, with red eyes everywhere. She screamed, another cry echoed from above her and she looked up to see another Digimon sweeping down on her. In appearance the Digimon seemed to be a skeletal bird. She knew that it had once been Loweemon. The Digimon were joined by two others, one recognizably a dark Petaldramon, the other she assumed must have once been Gigasmon.

At this point in the dream would Ranamon flee through the woods, trying to find a river or something to swim up and out of. She would reach one, and slide-evolve with corrupted beasts not far behind her. She glanced behind and saw that they were catching up, with the evil Cherubimon also in tow. The clouds about them parted and a glowing Digimon descended down. She remembered that silhouette.

Siramon turned to the water ready to dive in and escape when she caught her reflection and found that she wasn't Siramon anymore. She backed away in terror and glanced down at herself to find a tentacled monster had replaced her beautiful beast form. A new name echoed in her mind.

Calmaramon

She turned back to the others, hideous beasts; all of them, except for the one in the clouds.

_"Lucemon…"_

The angel Digimon spread his arms and smiled,_ "Come to me…"_

"Ranamon wake up!"

The water Digimon jumped. Had she fallen asleep? Was she just dreaming again? Darn, her frightening dream was only a scattered memory again.

Mercurymon stood at the edge of her pool; he wore a worried frown on his countenance. "Another nightmare?" he asked.

"How could ya tell?" she replied.

"Thou were crying out as you slept." Mercurymon responded.

Her eyes narrowed, "How long were you here?" she asked

"Long enough." He answered simply, "Come, Agunimon has called another counsel."

"Alright, alright, I'll just be a minute Sugar." Ranamon sighed and took a deep breath preparing to dive. Only now did she notice that sometime, probably in her sleep, she had slide-evolved. Aw well, she swam just as well in her human form.

"Ranamon." Mercurymon said impatiently, under his visor the watery warrior knew he was rolling his eyes.

"What? Do ya want to help me?" She asked with a mischievous grin.

"Huh? What doth thou--?" He was going to ask what she meant, but he saw the grin and attempted to get away. Unfortunately Ranamon was faster than he was and within moments he was in the pool sinking to the bottom.

Mercurymon, for his part, never learned to swim. And, even if the warrior of steel did know how to tread waters, he was in fact a warrior of steel and his heavy armor weighed him further into the blue. Bubbles of air floated out of his mouth and escaped towards the surface, while poor Mercurymon could struggle all he wanted and only continue to sink. Mercurymon tired to keep his mouth shut and hold on to his precious air, and finally something wrapped around his arm and began to pull him back up.

Upon reaching the surface there was a panicked gasp of air, Ranamon lead him back to the ledge and Mercurymon scrambled out of the water, coughing.

"That's what you get when you try and rush a lady." Ranamon taunted, but she also had a question for him. "Why didn't you slide-evolve?"

Mercurymon was currently wringing water out of his hair and checking to make sure his sword was still in its sheath (Ranamon sometimes stole it when she played these games), but he looked up when she asked.

"Because thou arth a strong swimmer, capable of pulling thee desired objects from the water, no matter how much they weigh." He said nodding down to his armor, "Sephirotmon is a strong swimmer as well, but thy wouldst prefer not to waste energy in slide-evolution unless it is truly an emergency, and thy knows that thou wouldst not let me drown. Thus no need to slide-evolve"

Boy, did he know her.

Ranamon pouted, Mercurymon almost never slide-evolved, he was strong enough as in his human form to take on many of his foes, so seeing Sephirotmon was a treat. Mercurymon was smart too; nobody (Ranamon wasn't the only one) had yet been able to trick him into sliding just for fun.

"Come," Mercurymon sighed, wiping the glass of the mirror on his visor so he could see better, "The others are waiting."

"Really Sugar, I'll only be a minute." Ranamon replied.

Mercurymon took a few steps closer to the pool, then he leaned down and kissed her gently. "Alright," he said after letting her go, "but _only_ a minute." Then he stood up and left.

Ranamon glowed a rosy pink and dived into the water to cool off, completely forgetting about her originally intention for staying behind, so that she could relax just a little longer before having to worry about the vanished warriors all over again.

The color and heat faded from her face when she reached the darkest depth of her pool, she flipped around and headed back to the surface.

In reality, she and Mercurymon had been seeing each other for a long time. AncientMermaimon and AncientWisemon had been romantically involved; they just never went public about it. Despite the impression some may have gotten from the steel warrior's reputation, Mercurymon was rather bashful.

Ranamon broke the surface and almost bumped into Kazemon. They both gave small shrieks that gave way to giggles when Ranamon playfully splashed her floating friend.

"Enough! Stop, please!" Kazemon begged through giggles, Ranamon complied and swam over to the edge of her pool so that she could climb out, Kazemon glided over the surface of the water after her.

"Wha'cha want Sugar?" Ranamon asked her friend.

"Agunimon has called a meeting again," Kazemon notified putting her hands on her hips, "seems that he's worried that if we're all separate for too long some one else will disappear…" She added sadly.

"I know about the meeting. Mercurymon told me." Ranamon replied.

"Is that why when I passed him he was drenched?" Kazemon asked and when the watery warrior nodded continued "Oh, Ranamon! It's not lady-like to try and drown the one you love! No wonder Grumblemon and Arbormon ran away!"

"What?"

"Well you notice that all the warriors that have disappeared were from Cherubimon's team, perhaps they just wanted to get away from your bloodcurdling temper!" Kazemon laughed

"I wasn't mad at Mercurymon, I was just playing," Ranamon explained "and Arbormon and Grumblemon, goofballs that they may be, know I'd never-"

Kazemon interrupted her with a poke in the side, "Or maybe they were terrified of your ugly carcass, and finally couldn't take it anymore! Better watch out or Mercurymon might run next!" She said poking her again, "We'd better go; we don't wanna keep everyone waiting." Kazemon flew with speed increased by currents of air.

The pink warrior of wind had meant her last comment entirely as a joke, but she had no idea of Ranamon's nightmares, and the mention of ugliness made Ranamon remember horrific images of monstrous Digimon that had once been her friends. Kazemon's words wounded Ranamon deeply and her feet dragged slightly as she walked towards the counsel chambers.

Ranamon continued to think about this even as Agunimon and the others spoke about anything that might explain they predicament.

Kazemon had a point. All the warriors that had disappeared had been on Cherubimon's team…_her_ team…Were they really afraid of her or something? She stole a glance to Mercurymon and caught her refection in one of his mirrors, for the first time wondering if she was as beautiful as she often boasted.

She stared at her reflection for the longest time, then her eyes shifted to Kazemon, who was taking Beetlemon's side in what was the start of an argument, and observed her friends appearance.

Kazemon was beautiful, she decided. With long, flowing violet hair, and creamy skin, she had a sparkle to her voice that almost made her sound like she was about to start singing every time she spoke, and her butterfly wings caught light in their scale-like material that made them glimmer.

But was Kazemon prettier than her?

Ranamon looked back at her reflection. She had pale skin with a green hint to it; deep blue eyes the color of the darkest ocean depths, and her short sea-green hair was tucked carefully under her hat. But she did not have shimmering wings, and though her voice was soothing, she wouldn't say that there was a sparkle in it.

Her reflection vanished as Mercurymon stood up. Ranamon stepped back into reality and realize that Agunimon and Mercurymon had started to argue bitterly. She stood and tried to get Mercurymon to calm down. It seemed an eternity, but at last the meeting was called to an end.

It was late. Everyone headed of to their rooms to try and get some sleep. Except for Agunimon and Loweemon, the two of them walked with Lobomon to his room. Lobomon and Loweemon were brothers, often they stayed up talking, and Agunimon, though he sometimes fought with him, was Lobomon's best friend. Ranamon had once made a joke that there was something more than talking going on in Lobomon's room and the boys had been so embarrassed that they stopped hanging out for a while.

But lately, it seemed everyone needed all the comfort they needed. Kazemon spent most of her nights with Beetlemon, both of them whispering reassuring words to the other as they tried to sleep, Lobomon, Loweemon and Agunimon talked all night. Mercurymon never came to Ranamon because he was afraid of her pool, but she sometimes joined him in his room and found him quietly reading a book, which when he realized she was there, he would read aloud.

The thing about Mercurymon's room was that it had more books in it that the library did.

This night Ranamon stayed in her room, and slept restlessly in her pool continuing to think about what Kazemon had said, their beauty, and her nightmares. As she tried to reach sleep she realized that she was jealous of her friend, and angry that she would so blatantly brag that she was prettier.

Had Kazemon been bragging?

Ranamon didn't remember anymore, but she was angry. Sleep must have caught her, for she was walking aimlessly in a pure white void. She mumbled to herself… curses at Kazemon.

"That hoity-toity bitch…" Tears stung in her eyes, "I'd _never_ be so damn cruel…Bitch…I hate her…I _hate _her!"

_"Ranamon…"_

What was that? Ranamon could have sworn that she'd heard someone call her name. She glanced around at the void around her, her eyes found a shape ahead of her. She gasped with surprise; it was her beast spirit Siramon!

Siramon looked at her, her eyes were sad, but for a different reason than Ranamon's.

"What do you want!?" Ranamon cried, allowing her tears to fall unchecked.

"Please…" Siramon said, her voice echoed like a bell in the emptiness around them, "Please Ranamon, don't give in…"

_"Ranamon…"_

"Who's there!?" Ranamon demanded turning around to find the speaker. Behind her Siramon turned her face away and a single tear fell down her face.

"Too late…" she whispered.

"What?" Ranamon asked turning back to face her beast spirit.

Siramon did not answer; she folded up in a stream of data, back into spirit form…but something was wrong, streams of dark data also wrapped around her spirit, and when they disappeared she did not recognize the beast spirit. She didn't get a good look at it either, for it flew up into the air and vanished.

_"Ranamon…" _She turned around angrily and the speaker revealed himself.

Or _herself_ actually, it was Kazemon.

"What do _you_ want!?" Ranamon shouted at her former friend.

Kazemon didn't give her an answer, only mocked her_. "See that, you ugly bitch? Even your own beast spirit is repulsed by you!"_

"That's not true!" Ranamon argued, but deep down she felt like Kazemon was telling the truth,

"I'm not ugly!" She sobbed into her hands.

_"Is that so?"_ Kazemon taunted, _"Why don't you ask Mercurymon what he thinks?"_

"What?" Ranamon asked, but Kazemon and the white void were gone, she was back in her pool.

She leaped out and rushed across the castle to Mercurymon's room, remembering her dream, and realizing that her beast spirit was missing… she had to know.

Ranamon opened the door without knocking, making Mercurymon jump and darn near drop his book. She walked over to his bed and joined him on it, snuggling into his chest. "Ranamon…? What's wrong?" He asked, "Why dost thou cry?"

"Am I pretty Sugar?" She asked.

Surprised by this sudden question Mercurymon didn't answer right away, "O-of course…" he did finally reply.

"Prettier than Kazemon?" She asked.

Mercurymon's lips curled into a confused frown, "Both ladies are quite appealing to one's eye." He answered, unsure what Ranamon wanted to hear.

"But who's _prettier_?" Ranamon demanded looking into his face.

"Ranamon…" He gasped with astonishment "Thou eyes hath changed!" He meant in color, but he had also noticed wickedness in them that did not belong to his beloved.

"_Who!?_" she demanded again.

"Ranamon, thou are not thy self." He said getting up and backing away from her.

"Mercurymon… answer me Sugar!"

"Ranamon listen to thy self! Thou art not like this!"

"Is Kazemon prettier than me…?" She asked with a sob.

Mercurymon lowered his gaze to the floor with a sigh. He wasn't getting through to her. "No…Kazemon is not prettier than thou…"

"Tell me again." Ranamon asked. "And look at me when you say it!"

Mercurymon did not move.

"Look at me!" Ranamon shouted.

Mercurymon turned his back to her. "No, thy won't look at thee…not until thou remembers who thou truly are…"

Ranamon stood staring at his back sobbing for a moment; she knew he would not turn around to face her, he might never again…she ran out of his room… out of the hall…out of the castle… into the forest.

The sun was peaking up over the horizon, giving her just enough daylight to see were she was going. They path of the woods twisted and turned, but Ranamon went in a straight line, going off the path and ending up at a pond where she dove in, her salty tears mixing with the water and lost in the liquid. She broke the surface again and leaned against a rock, crying silently.

Next to her a small Digimon emerged from the pool, he'd been awakened by the disturbance of the water, and come to see what the source was. The Digimon, an Otamamon, gazed at the intruder in wonder.

"Wow…" Ranamon turned tearful eyes to her admirer "You're beautiful…" he said, his eyes sparkled and lit up like hearts.

Ranamon continued to look at him, more water Digimon came into view, all of them swooned over her.

"D-do you r-r-really think I'm be-beautiful…?" She sniffled.

"Yes!" They all answered. "What's your name?"

"Ranamon," She told them, then a wicked thought entered her mind. "Would you guys do me a favor?"

"Yes! Yes Ranamon! What do you want?" They responded excitedly.

"I want you to help me get my revenge."

"_Our_ revenge."

Ranamon turned around, Arbormon and Grumblemon appeared from behind a bush. They looked different, but she knew them and nodded, "Yes… _our_ revenge."

**Author's end note:** And thus the Ranamon fan-club is born. I think Ranamon's story has been longest so far -checks- … nope Arbormon's is longer by about 551 words. I hope y'all enjoyed and this wasn't a disappointment to anyone. I can't wait to write Mercurymon's because he was rather fun to write in this chapter, and you all deserve to know what Sephirotmon will look like -hint: He's and animal not a monster-.

**V.E.: **Three down, two to go… I need more sleep. Give Zaerith nice reviews so I don't have to stay up any longer than needed to hunt you guys down…

**Zaerith:** Faeryl, you keep that up and I'll stop posting your fanfiction for you. -waves finger in Faeryl's face scoldingly- Be nice.


	5. Mercurymon

**Author's note: **Mwaha, I may actually finish this fic, I usually have a hard time with multi-chapter things, mostly because I get distracted with other fanfics, but y'all are so great I just had to keep writing. I've been looking forward to writing this chapter, so I hope y'all have a great time reading it! I think this one will be the shortest.

**Warning: **Mercurymon angst (Sorta), implied Mercury/Aguni friendship turned rivalry, -gasp- Sephirotmon revealed!

**Disclaimer: **Why, no officer! I don't know where the resident copy write violator is…I don't even _write_ fanfiction! -nose grows a la Pinocchio -

Corruption

Mercurymon

"I'm such a hypocrite…"

Mercurymon sat with his knees against his chest staring at his reflection in Ranamon's pool. The warrior of water had run away only days ago, and so far only he and Kazemon had noted her absence, though Mercurymon kept quite on the matter of why she was missing.

She'd lost herself, forgotten the once kind Digimon she had been, and now was noting more than a puppet to be played with.

Played with by Lucemon.

Yes. Mercurymon knew what was going on. In the years before he had not been called AncientWisemon for nothing, he placed the pieces together and made sense of the puzzle. But he wasn't doing anything, nor was he planning to…That's why he had called himself a hypocrite.

He told Ranamon that he wouldn't look at her until she remembered who she was, but Mercurymon knew, even then, that he was forgetting who _he _was. There was a time when the steel warrior would have immediately relayed his exact thoughts about any situation to Agunimon …but he just couldn't anymore. Like Ranamon was jealous of Kazemon, he was jealous of Agunimon, and had been for sometime. He could believe that he had once considered the fiery imbecile to be his best friend.

_Why dost they listen to that buffoon? _He remembered asking himself on several occasions, _is it not thy that truly comes through for the group? Are my tactics the not ones that get us though battles alive?_

Mercurymon's brilliant strategies had indeed gotten them out of plenty of scrapes in which Agunimon had started to panic.

And yet he was not the leader on the legendary warriors…He wasn't even second on the list; Agunimon gave that honor to Lobomon…

Mercurymon struck his reflection with his sword. There was not denying it, he was falling into Lucemon's clutches just like the others. Why fight it? He was doomed anyway. Everyone bound by their oaths to Cherubimon were.

Ranamon's pool vanished and Mercurymon found himself sitting face to face with Sephirotmon, his beast spirit. He dropped his sword.

_"Doth thou truly believe what thou speak of?"_ The beast Digimon asked his human counter part.

Mercurymon stared at him. Sephirotmon was a silver tiger, with mirror shields strapped to his fore legs, green armor hiding his face and protecting his flanks. His blue eyes stared sadly back at him, awaiting an answer, his metal tail swished back and forth patiently.

"…Forgive thee…" Mercurymon said at last breaking their gaze "…Thy believe…"

The proud tiger lifted his muzzle in a mournful bellow. The cry echoed and continued even when Sephirotmon folded up into spirit form, and only ended when the beast spirit of steel burst into a millions particles, which shifted, jumbled, and rearranged themselves until the spirit was completely unrecognizable.

_"Fine then, if thou wishes that to be than it shall,"_ the new beast warrior, Sakkakumon, said _"but let thy for be a reflection of thine self…"_

"Let it be so…" Mercurymon agreed, taking his new beast spirit and praying that he never had to use it. Then he felt his own changes begin.

Looking into the water he saw that his limbs had grown skinnier and more stick-like (quiet fitting for the puppet he was allowing himself to become) but that was all before his vision vanished. Freighted he reached up to his face to find his visor, but his hand hit could steel.

Tracing the edge of it, he found a latch, he pushed it towards his face and his sight returned. His visor was gone and in its place was a mask made only of reflective glass that was attached to his helmet, which had formed into a cone.

Mercurymon stared at his reflection for a mere moment before he sensed the remaining six warriors searching for him. The fallen Digimon stepped away from the pool, to one of Ranamon's mirrors and disappeared though it, just as Agunimon, Lobomon, Kumamon, Kazemon, and Beetlemon stepped though the door.

"Tis not so bad_,_" he supposed, and remembering what he had said to Ranamon added "Thy won't look at her; and no she cannot look at me…"

"Yo, Mercurymon!" He heard Arbormon shout, "What took ya so long, right?"

Mercurymon turned to his fellow corrupted warrior, the red imprint of lips on his facial mirror curved into a permanent diabolical smile. "Tis none of thou concern." He answered with a snobby tone. The other warriors gathered around and looked to him with a wicked version of the respect they had once shown the warrior of fire.

_If thy destiny is to be a puppet, then the leader of puppets I shall be!_

**Author's end note: **Yeah, Mercurymon's story was shorter than the others, but I wanted to make it so that Mercurymon has known about what was happening, but had a fight with his conscious about it, and you can see from the earlier chapters that I've been kind of foreshadowing his corruption, did any of you catch that? Stick around for the epilogue!

**V.E: **hope this wasn't too short for ya'll, please review so I can stop beating up on Zaerith. No Flames.


	6. Epilogue

Author's note: Thanks for sticking around

**Author's note: **Thanks for sticking around!

**Warning: **First-person-ness again!

**Disclaimer: **Lucemon hates me for ruffling his hair all the time, and the lawyer just boots me out when I ask for the rights to any fandom.

Corruption

Epilogue: Broken Unity

Too late the other legendary warriors realized what had become of us. Loweemon joined us much later as Duskmon when Cherubimon forced him into a corrupted spirit form and was passed from host to host until a human boy compatible with his power was given to him.

The 'good' hybrids, as people now called them, and the remaining Celestials attempted to liberate us on their own, but with the power of Lucemon aiding us we were to strong for them. Cherubimon captured Ophanimon and severely wounded Seraphimon. Agunimon and the others attempted a rescue but again were met with defeat at our hands.

That was when they realized that they would not be able to overcome us without help. They reverted to spirit form and scattered throughout the digital world to prevent us finding and destroying them. From captivity Ophanimon was able to call human children to come and use their powers, and ultimately purify us and the world.

You know who we are, and now you know our stories.

**Author's end note: **Yay for me actually finishing this, I happily thank all my reviewers and squeal delightedly that **rika195 **enjoyed this as much as I have (and still am) enjoying her story 'Ranamon'. Thank you; and all Digidestined must tell me who their partner Digimon is when they review for this chapter. As for me, Kuwagamon is my loyal and lethal Digi-snuggle bug (he hates it when I call him that so shh…)

**V.E: **Well, that was fun, WAY too short for me, but I'm not in charge here so Bah on my opinions… If ya'll must know, my Digimon partner is Hawkmon, "Hey Kuwagamon! Guess what Zaerith called you!" -Watches smugly as Zaerith is eaten by her rampaging partner-


End file.
